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Sunday, 8 September 2013

Nigerians,Accept It Or Not, Nigerian Gays Have A Right too – Yemisi Ilesanmi

My apologies….I’ve been away for a while.

Here are your stories for today. This one and many more.Enjoy!

Coordinator of the Nigerian Lesbian, Gay, Biséxual and
Transséxual, LGBT community, Yemisi Ilesanmi, in this interview with TELL
Magazine, talks about homoséxual relationship and that LGBTs should be treated
with respect because being gay is not criminal.

Excerpts:

On what Nigerians need to know about homoséxuality:

The very first thing we need to understand is that
homoséxuality, biséxuality, aséxuality are all as natural as heteroséxuality.

Our séxual orientation differs; we are born with an innate ability to be
emotionally or séxually attracted or not be séxually or emotionally attracted
to same séx or opposite séx.

Unfortunately, many African societies do not provide
enabling environments to discuss séxual orientation. Séxual orientation does
not harm anyone. A person who is attracted to opposite séx does not harm anyone
so far it is a consensual adult relationship.

A homoséxual who is attracted to the same séx does not harm
anybody so far it is a consensual adult relationship.

A Biséxual or Panséxual who can be attracted to all séxes
harms no one so far it is an adult consensual relationship.

Even an Aséxual who is not séxually attracted to any gender
harms no one.

We are all different, and non-harmful lifestyle of adults
should not be criminalised.

On if Nigerians will ever accept homosexuality:

Whether Nigerians
accept it or not, LGBT rights are recognised human rights. Unless, you can
prove that Lesbians, gays, biséxuals and transséxuals are not human beings,
well, you have no reason to deny them their fundamental human rights.

Unfortunately many Nigerians believe in the concept of sin.
First, we must understand that sin is a religious concept.

Not every Nigerian is religious. Your religion is also a
personal matter, why drag other people into your personal relationship with
Jesus, Mohamed or Obatala?

When I am told that homoséxuality is a sin, I just tell them
their religion is not my law. The Bible or Quran is not my constitution, so why
is that even coming up?

It is absurd when Christian gay bashers gleefully quote
Leviticus 18:22 to justify why they want to jail and stone gays. Anyone who
wants to quote from Leviticus should at least read the book to make sure they
are not guilty of any of the things condemned in the book.

Leviticus also says you should not shave, you should not
interact with a woman in her menstrual cycle, thou shall not eat shrimps or
shell fish, Lev. 11:10,11:6-8 thou shall not touch the skin of a dead pig
(therefore touching football without wearing gloves makes you unclean!)

So, when Christians throw Leviticus at me, I simply throw
Leviticus right back in their face.

On what her family thinks about her séxual orientation and
controversies:

What makes a family is love, tolerance and acceptance.
Anyone who shows me love and welcomes me into their heart is my family. Love is
one thing that is thicker than blood.

My immediate family knows my séxual orientation, my father
is late, and my mother is accepting of whom I am and has shown me love and
support.

To continue to be an important part of my life, you cannot
be homophobic, biphobic or transphobic.

On if her atheism belief is connected to her séxuality:

My atheism has nothing to do with my biséxuality. Atheism is
simply a non-belief in God. My biséxuality is my séxual orientation, no
connection.

However, I must say, my atheism has helped me to stand up
against religious bullies, who use the Bible and the Quran to justify their
hate for gays, lesbians, transséxual and biséxuals.

Religion carries a lot of unwarranted weight in Nigeria and
Africa generally. This should not be so. In fact, this is one reason the
African continent is still very backward.

When religion carried so much weight in Europe during middle
Ages, it was wrought with wars, jihads, killings and ethnic cleansing.

Many religious Africans now use the ‘holy’ books to justify
the oppression of members of their own society. Even when the original owners
of the religion inform them that the book has been updated and some parts are
no longer applicable, Africans still insist that it is must be applicable
because it says so in the book they were given. How pathetic!

I found this on Yemisi’s blog

About Yemisi

Yemisi Ilesanmi is a Nigerian woman, resident in UK. She
holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) post graduate degree in Gender, Sexuality and
Human Rights. She is a trade unionist, a human rights activist, an author, a
poet and a plus size model. Her book 'Freedom To Love For ALL: Homosexuality is
Not Un-African'is available in paperback and kindle version on Amazon
(www.amazon.com/dp/1481864815). She has also held the following positions- -
Assistant National Secretary, Nigeria Labor Party. - International Trade Union
Congress(ITUC) - Vice President, Executive Board Member, General Council
Member, Chairperson ITUC Youth Committee.(2004-2009) - UN/World Bank /ILO Youth
Employment Network and consultative group Member - International Labour
Conference (ILC) Committee Member on Applications of Standards -
Founder/President, National Association of Nigerian Female Students 1998–2001
She is an advocate and has extensive travel experience as guest speaker
promoting gender and youth issues, labour rights, sexuality rights and
international human rights. She is also the coordinator of the campaign group
Nigerian LGBTIs in Diaspora Against Anti-Same Sex Laws.